1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to rail tank car cleaning systems and, in one aspect, to such systems which can be operated without personnel inside a tank car.
2. Background of the Invention
Periodically, rail tank cars need to be cleaned. These cars are used to transport a wide variety of materials and often, before one material can be introduced into a car, residues and remainders of a previously-transported material must be removed. Water jetting systems producing a stream of high pressure water have been used to clean tank car interiors. Some of these systems have in the past been used by personnel inside of the cars. This can be extremely dangerous for these personnel. Injuries and fatalities in these situations are not uncommon.
Adequate cleaning of a tank car often requires that substantially all of a previously-transported material be removed. The present inventor is unaware of any available prior art system which can accomplish such cleaning without personnel present inside the car. A system is known in the prior art which uses an arm movably mounted on a mast which can move in an arc into a tank car. A nozzle is immovably mounted on the movable arm and hoses run to the nozzle to supply fluid under pressure. The arm is moved by a series of driven pinch rollers which move the arm by frictional contact. The mast is movable about a pedestal receivable in an opening of a tank car. Counterbalancing weights are provided. This system has been used without personnel present in a car, but it has not proven adequate to clean the entire interior of a car.
There has long been a need for an effective rail tank car cleaning system. There has long been a need for such a system which has an arm which is positively driven with little or no slippage. There has long been a need for such a system which does not require the presence of operator personnel within the car during the cleaning operation. There has long been a need for such systems which can clean substantially all of the interior of a tank car.